When I say the word “freedom,” what do you think of? Freedom of speech? Self-determination? The freedom to choose your own spouse, friends or career path? Or maybe you envision an open road. Or a favorite pastime. Or winning the lottery. Freedom is not just one thing. There are many different types, states and levels of freedom. When it comes to retirement, I think there are five key types of freedom you should strive for. Those are:
Financial Freedom. Things cost money. If you have enough money to pay for the things you want and need, you have financial freedom. You don’t need to be rich, but you need enough money to fund your ideal lifestyle. Obviously, that’s a different amount for everyone. Find out how much it is for you and get to work. Save more. Be a good steward of your resources. Stop spending on things that aren’t important to you. The more financial freedom you have, the less beholden you are to a job or lender and the more flexible you can be in your life decisions. Of course, money won’t solve all your problems, but it will usually solve your money problems (to paraphrase Naval Ravikant). It’s often the table stakes for the other freedoms we’ll discuss below.
Time Freedom. Think of life as a pie chart that is divided between time you control and time controlled by others. The goal is to gradually shrink the piece of the pie that is controlled by others. The smaller that piece becomes, the more time freedom you have. The more time freedom you have, the more retired you are. Be careful, however. The most common way to achieve the money freedom we discussed earlier is to trade your time freedom for it. That can work while you’re building your nest egg, but it’s not a good long-term trade. The goal is not to be cash rich and time poor. That’s just prison with a fancy zip code. The goal is to have financial freedom while simultaneously controlling your time.
Location Freedom. Location independence is a key theme at Intentional Retirement. Being location independent means that you’re not tied to a specific geographic location for work or other reasons. You are free to move about, explore and experience while still staying on top of work or other obligations. Pre-pandemic, this was a rarely used and somewhat radical concept. Post-pandemic, it has become almost normal. We have the tools and technology to facilitate it and fewer gatekeepers telling us no. Location freedom is important for obvious reasons. If the things you have to do are tied to a specific location, they will prevent you from doing the things you want to do that are not. A caged bird isn’t free.
Health Freedom. Think for a minute about how your health can affect your freedom. For starters, getting sick is expensive. Health issues often sabotage your financial freedom and can force you to continue working, which undermines your time freedom. Even worse, being sick or unhealthy will often get in the way of everything else you want to do. I’m sure many of your plans involve some level of activity. The worse your health is, the less you’ll be able to do. Said another way, your health can act as either captor or emancipator. Better health = More freedom.
Lifestyle freedom. Having the first four types of freedom enable you to achieve freedom number five: Lifestyle freedom. This freedom comes from deciding what you really want out of life and having the time, money, independence and health to pursue those things and make them a reality.
How are you doing so far? Any particular area that still needs work? You can do it. Just keep in mind that freedom can be tricky. When you look at the list above, it’s easy to see how acquiring one freedom can cost you another. That’s less than ideal, obviously. Figure out all five and you’ll be well on your way to a remarkable retirement (and life).
Be Intentional,
Joe